JazzBaltica

Four Days of Jazz by the Sea

JazzBaltica is one of the defining voices in the European jazz landscape. For decades, the festival has graced the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein, turning the Timmendorfer Strand park in the Ostholstein district into a soundscape for contemporary jazz in all its shades for four days. Since 2012, the artistic director has been the Swedish trombonist Nils Landgren – an identity that has shaped the festival with Nordic sound aesthetics, a funk affinity, and a distinct sense for cross-genre encounters.

Five Venues Around the Strandpark

The focus is on the MainStage in the Maritim Seehotel, featuring major evening concerts by international headliners. Free concerts take place during the day on the open-air stage at the historic Trinkkurhalle, complemented by the JazzCafé in the Trinkkurhalle rotunda, the intimate club atmosphere of the JazzNight, and the @the beach concert series directly on the sand. The concept combines premium productions with accessible entry: 21 of the 36 concerts are free and can be attended spontaneously, radiating JazzBaltica's appeal far beyond the jazz scene.

A Northern German Festival Brand

JazzBaltica is organized in collaboration with the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and broadcast live by NDR. The main sponsor, IB.SH (Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein), ensures its structural anchoring in the state. Beyond the festival core, the JazzBaltica season extends with summer concerts to Kiel, Lübeck, Hamburg, and Sønderborg in Denmark – an echo of the festival's cross-border character on the western Baltic Sea.

Families, Talents, and Big Names

In addition to top-tier concerts, JazzBaltica specifically focuses on promoting emerging artists with the State Youth Jazz Orchestras of Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, the JazzBaltica Ensemble, and family formats like the concert 'Unfug mit Michel aus Lönneberga'. The traditional WarmUp on Thursday evening in Timmendorfer Platz, where Nils Landgren plays with the Big Band of the Ostsee-Gymnasium, has been the unofficial start of the season in the Ostholstein district of Schleswig-Holstein for years.